44 Days Through the New Testament – Day 15

John 17-19

I love the insight that we get in John 17. Here we see a glimpse into the intimate, personal prayer time of our LORD Jesus.

Having spoken the words that He felt it was necessary to say to His disciples, He lifts His eyes to heaven at the beginning of John 17, and He begins to pour His heart out to His Father in prayer.

One of the most interesting lines in the entire prayer is located near the beginning.

“… this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” (John 17:3, ESV)

I’m not sure what your picture of “eternal life” is like. I have several different images running through my mind when I think of “eternal life”. I think of streets of gold. I think of reuniting with family members who have passed. I think of angels, elders, and saints surrounding the throne in worship. Here in John 17:3, I believe we see the essence of eternal life. Knowing God.

God is not the way by which we are able to access the treasure of eternal life. God IS the treasure!

John 20 -Acts 1

Strangely, John seems to end his gospel twice. The first ending comes at the end of chapter 20.

Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. (John 20:30-31, ESV)

With these words, he seems to wrap up everything he has to say about Jesus. He also gives us his purpose for writing the book. He wrote it so that we who read it may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing we may have life in His name.

Then, after what seems like a great ending, he goes on.

In John 21 we read about Jesus and Peter. It is a beautiful chapter of redemption. Jesus is the Great Redeemer, and He is restoring a broken disciple (Peter) who had wandered back to his former life of fishing after the death of Christ. By the end of their conversation, Peter has a renewed sense of purpose and mission. We never see him turn back to his former life again, throughout the rest of the New Testament.

Then, after this final chapter, John gives us another ending that seems to be a fitting ending for all four gospels together.

Now there are also many other things that Jesus did. Were every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written. (John 21:25, ESV)

Amen. I have throughly enjoyed reading through the four gospels in these past 15 days. Now we move on to the book of Acts, where we will discover how the disciples followed in the footsteps of Jesus, our King Forever.

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